The present invention is directed towards method and apparatus for managing resources.
In the last few years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of computers that are used in business and residential environments. The use of computers, however, is not well understood. This is because currently there are few mechanisms for gathering data relating to the hardware and software resources of computers and to the usage of these resources. There are even fewer mechanisms for analyzing any such data.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system that gathers data relating to the hardware and software resources of one or more computer and gathers data relating to the usage of these resources. In addition, there is a need for a system that filters and analyzes such data, in order to provide a better understanding of the resources employed by the computers and the usage of these resources.
Some embodiments of the invention provide a method for tracking the use of software resources of a computer. This method identifies an instance when a particular software resource is used. It then measures and records a time period relating to the detected utilization of the software resource. In some embodiments, this time period is an estimated duration of the utilization of the software resource.